I’ve always been interested in Mark Granovetter’s theory around the “Strength in Weak Ties.” In the 1970s he asked a group of people about how they had got their job. Of those who found jobs through personal contacts 55.6% reported seeing their contact occasionally (more than once a year, but less than twice a week) and 27.8% rarely (once a year or less). When asked whether a friend had told them about their current job, the most frequent answer was “not a friend, an acquaintance.”

I’m very much a weak tie man. I love serendipity – and I enjoy matching people up who have similar interests/objectives from all over the place. This week has been a joy for me – with my new found love of Twitter. It’s not the chatting that I like – it’s the opening up of a new world of people with similar interests/objectives to me. I’m enjoying creating the seeds of relationships at the very outer circles of my Personal Network.

Here are some examples of people who have appeared in the last 7 days who seem to share my passion for Personal Networks….

There were a bunch of other people too – but these 4 stand out as understanding the Value of Personal Networks. Overall, a great first week on Twitter – and I’m very happy that my Personal Network is being enriched by these distant links.

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9 responses to “Strength in Weak Twits (ties)”

Just wondering, how did you manage to find these people by their blog posts, and how do you search? Very interested because I’ve been using twitter for about a month now, but still find it hard to find people who share the same interests with me. Thanks!

All of the people and their posts were found via Twitter. I’ve been amazed – as I’ve been blogging on Personal Networks since July, researching heavily on-line … and not come across any of them before.

I either saw their posts Re-Twittered in my general feed – or I’ve set up some saved searches like “Connectors Gladwell”, “Network Value”, “Weak Ties Granovetter”, “Dunbar 150”. I check the searches occasionally – and have been a bit of a Twitter addict this week! I know there are tools around like Hootsuite to do some of these things – but just using basic Twitter home page (and a fair amount of time) at the moment.

Thanks for pointing me in the direction of your post. That video interview with Prof Martin Gargiulo at INSEAD is excellent. I’ve not heard such clarity in discussion of Personal Networks. Just off to try the questionnaire. P

Hi Heather. Wow – have subscribed to your other feed. Amazed how many ventures you are involved in – and writing books too. I suppose that’s why you are an efficiency coach. Have a great weekend – enjoy the snow. P

Thanks for being such a good resource of Personal Network info. I’ve ordered that book from Amazon – and will be on my Christmas/New Year reading.

The Six Degrees BBC documentary is a really good find. I agreed with your commenter’s observation that “sharing in a network is beneficial to the individuals as well as the whole system – not to be selfish is in everyone’s interest” is a real thought provoking point.

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As you will know from previous posts – I really like the work/blogs/books of Chris Brogan. He’s just launched a new blog called Escape Velocity – and one of the first blog posts he has created is about “Gentle Networking”. I can’t think of a better term to describe “how to” develop a Personal Network. […]

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This week I went to a networking evening in Bristol called South West Founders. I’ve been meaning to go for ages – since moving to Bath earlier in the year. I finally got around to it because I’d planned to meet with a friend, John Lynch, for a few beers – and we decided a […]

My google alerts on “Personal Networks” and “Personal Network Value” bring me some interesting nuggets – and take me to some off-beat places. Today I’ve spent some time in the “Career Talk for Women” section of Forbes magazine!! My exploration of Personal Networks has been focussed around visualisation and values – but this blog post […]

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